Cons

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Corporations seeking to deploy managed Chromebooks will find everything they could desire in Dell's Latitude 5300 2-in-1 Chromebook Enterprise, but this fast and configurable convertible carries some steep pricing.

Nov. 26, 2019

You've heard, surely, of the Starship Enterprise...but the Chromebook Enterprise? The phrase isn't as odd as it might have seemed a few years ago. Business-laptop vendors and IT departments have long taken advantage of the Google Admin Console and its 2017 successor Chrome Enterprise to enjoy security controls such as disabling lost Chromebooks; access to corporate data via Active Directory integration and single sign-on support; and simplified fleet management and updates. The Dell Latitude 5300 2-in-1 Chromebook Enterprise (starts at $1,469; $1,482 as tested) is one of the first systems to come with these features out of the box, with no need to purchase the $50-per-device-per-year Chrome Enterprise Upgrade. It's a 13.3-inch convertible that's unapologetically pricey, but one of the sleekest and fastest Chromebooks you can buy.

Faster Than Flash

If you think Chromebooks' famously low operating system overhead means a poky Pentium CPU and a piddling 32GB of eMMC flash storage, this Dell model will be a revelation. Even the $1,469 base model boasts a quad-core, 1.6GHz Core i5-8365U processor and genuine 256GB NVMe solid-state drive. My $1,482 test unit halves that system's storage with a 128GB SSD, but doubles its memory with 16GB of RAM. The Gorilla Glass touch screen has a full-HD (1,920 by 1,080) native resolution, not the wimpy, coarse 1,366 by 768 pixels of cheaper Chromebooks.

You can order a Latitude 5300 2-in-1 with a Celeron 4305U or Core i3-8145U processor if you want to save a few bucks, or a Core i7-8665U plus 32GB of memory and a 512GB solid-state drive if you really want to give Windows convertibles a run for their money. Another option is AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint mobile broadband, for connectivity where the standard 802.11ac Wi-Fi can't find a hotspot.

The compact convertible measures 0.76 by 12 by 8.2 inches and weighs 3.2 pounds, not far from the Google Pixelbook Go's 0.5 by 12.2 by 8.1 inches on footprint, although its 2-in-1 design makes it heavier. (The Go is 2.3 pounds.) The larger-screened HP Chromebook x360 14 G1 is 0.63 by 12.8 by 8.9 inches and 3.7 pounds.

The laptop follows other Latitudes' conservative black-slab styling, with a large Chrome logo on the palm rest to make up for the lack of the usual Chromebook insignia on the carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer lid. Like many high-end business notebooks, it's passed various MIL-STD 810G tests against extreme temperatures, vibration, and shock, including 30-inch drops onto plywood; there's little flex when you grasp the screen corners or press the keyboard deck.

The left edge holds USB 3.1 Type-C and Type-A ports, along with an HDMI video output—a convenience missing from most Chromebooks, which often require USB Type-C DisplayPort dongles—and the connector for the petite AC adapter.

On the right, you'll find a second USB-A port (this one with support for device charging even when the Chromebook is powered down), plus an audio jack, a microSD card slot, a SIM tray for mobile broadband, and a Noble-style security-cable lockdown slot.

Taking Care of Business

The Dell's backlit keyboard is unusual among Chromebooks in that it includes Page Up and Page Down keys as alternatives to the Chrome OS combos of Search or Alt and the up and down arrows. (You still team Search and the left and right arrows for Home and End.) It has somewhat shallow travel but a comfortably snappy typing feel.

I was delighted to find that the touchpad supported double-tap and drag—something I do a hundred times a day on my Windows 10-based laptop and have never been able to do on a Chromebook before. The pad is on the small side, but it has two nice, rubbery buttons for left and right clicks if you don't like the one- and two-finger taps that Chrome OS mandates.

The anti-glare 1080p screen offers wide viewing angles thanks to IPS technology and smooth touch operations, though like most convertibles the Latitude is a tad heavy to hold in one hand in tablet mode. It's more comfortable in your lap, or with it propped on a desk or table in inverted-V tent mode or easel-style presentation mode.

The display could stand to be brighter (Dell rates it at 255 nits), though backgrounds look tolerably white if you leave brightness turned all the way up, and colors are reasonably vivid. As on the Acer Chromebook 714, the screen doesn't default to its native resolution of 1,920 by 1,080 pixels but an Apple-style "looks like 1,536 by 864" mode. You zoom or adjust the size of screen elements by dragging a slider for faux resolutions ranging from 1,182 by 665 to 2,194 by 1,234.

Google Duo video chatters will find the 720p webcam captures barely adequate images—my selfies looked slightly dark and soft, though colors and contrast were fair. When cranked up, audio can fill a room without distortion. Bass is scarce, but midtones and highs come through clearly, and it's possible to distinguish overlapping tracks.

Performance: As Good as It Gets

The Latitude didn't break a sweat when playing 1080p videos, navigating the Google Play Store, and running a handful of Android apps and games, though as is usual with Chromebooks, some smartphone games balked at running full screen. Multitasking and switching among a dozen browser tabs was no problem.

Since Chromebooks don't run our usual Windows benchmarks, we use Principled Technologies' CrXPRT (a suite of simulated Chrome OS productivity apps) and WebXPRT 2015 (a browser-based test of HTML and JavaScript throughput). Both date to 2015, but I also have a subset of results with newer apps.

As you can see, the quad-core Latitude and HP slugged it out at the front of the pack while the Google laptop, whose CPU draws only 5 watts to its rivals' 15 watts, brought up the rear.

As for more recent tests, the 5300 2-in-1 took the gold medal in JetStream 2, with a score of 125 to the HP's 102 and Acer's 98. The Latitude also prevailed in PCMark for Android's Work 2.0 benchmark, scoring 11,948 points to 11,076 for the Acer and 10,281 for the Pixelbook Go.

The Latitude showed good stamina in a big-picture sense, but its 13-hour unplugged runtime placed it next to last in this group.

Paying Up Front

Even with the IT management tools and one year of Dell's ProSupport with next-business-day on-site service, the Latitude 5300 2-in-1 Chromebook Enterprise is breathtakingly costly at $1,482. Against that, it's one of the most future-proof Chromebooks we've seen, with plenty of CPU power, memory, and fast storage. (It boots up in just 7 seconds from a fully powered-off state, half the time of some rivals.)

True, you may want to wait for more systems bearing the corporate-certified Chromebook Enterprise label to reach the market, or just calculate the cost of adding the Chrome Enterprise Upgrade to a capable but cheaper Chromebook. But I can see why it might be hard to resist the allure of this Latitude.

About the Author

Formerly editor-in-chief of Home Office Computing, Eric Grevstad is a contributing editor for PCMag and Computer Shopper, where he earlier served as lead laptop analyst and executive editor, respectively. A tech journalist since the TRS-80 and Apple II days, Grevstad specializes in lightweight laptops, all-in-one desktops, and productivity software, all of which he uses when commuting and telecommuting between PC Labs and a cat-filled home office in Old Greenwich, CT. Email him at homeoffice.eric@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @EricGrevstad. See Full Bio